How Dental Implants Can Improve Your Smile

An implant can go a long way in improving the smile of a person who has missing teeth. It not only enhances the appearance of that person, but also helps him regain his/her psycho social confidence.

When a person loses teeth, through an accident, disease or an injury, it takes nearly 12 months for the gums to heal properly. During this time, the gums shrink, before finally assuming a definitive shape. These gums, if left unattended, will not only give a bad look, cause difficulty in eating and speaking, but will also start aiding in the process of jaw bone regression and consequently that of the facial features. Implants therefore become necessary to maintain the face shape, and thus maintain your basic smile pattern. What these implants also do is to infuse a lot of self-belief in a person and rather than hiding the mouth behind a hand while smiling, he/she tends to laugh out openly.

Dental implants, unlike the dentures, are rigid and once in place, there is no slippage. This helps avoid that shaky denture feeling which hinders the speaking and chewing process and also saves the lower gums from taking the impact of movement.

There are many ways in which the dental implant can ensure a smile on your face;

1. Appearance

These implants are fused directly to your jaw bone with the help of a titanium screw. Thus there is a natural feel to the teeth and you don’t have to worry about them coming out. Sure, there will be a bit of hesitance in the beginning, but once you are used to it, you will feel absolutely no difference. Your smile will therefore be very natural. Another factor which allows a person to smile naturally is that there are no plastic and metal structures covering your gums as is the case in partial dentures, where the teeth are attached to a gum colored plastic frame, which is attached to a metal structure that fits in the mouth.

2. Speech

As mentioned before, dental implants are like roots of teeth. In dentures, adhesives are used to hold the teeth into place. Other than leaving a bad taste in the mouth, these adhesive don’t bond the teeth tightly and there is a good chance of the denture slipping while you are having a conversation. This can force you to mumble, and eat some of your words, literally. Thus there is always that gut feeling of something going wrong which affects your confidence, and ultimately smile. With implants, you can rid yourself of this sinking feeling and speak properly.

3. Chewing

When a person loses teeth due to any reason, the most prominent difficulty he/she faces comes in the form of chewing. The result is the consumption of lesser food and thus lower intake of essential nutrients. Even if dentures are applied, the consumption of food doesn’t increase significantly, because of the intrinsic inability of these structures to stay in place. With lesser food consumption, the glow on the face starts to vanish gradually and that affects the smile. By using dental implants, be it in the form of single crowns, fixed bridges, removable or fixed partials and dentures, the chewing problem can be totally eliminated.

4. Comfort

Dental implants can help give your self-esteem back to you. They are properly secured to the jaw bone and after the initial few days, there is literally no irritation or soreness in the gums. This is in total contrast to simple dentures in which the whole setup has to be re-applied every now and then with the help of adhesive bonds. No irritation means a better mood, meaning more chances of a natural and effusive smile.

5. Oral Health

In a denture, the teeth have to be continuously preserved, outside of the mouth, and the assembly has to be changed after a certain period. If that is not done, there is a good chance of an infection, be it mouth specific or not. In dental implants though, there is a natural feel to the teeth; you can brush and floss them normally. If these teeth are maintained, there is no reason why they should not last a lifetime.